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FlyTraveler

I've been waiting for this report for a while, too @@xelas. Great start and beautiful crisp sharp photos! Looking forward to seeing the rest...

Edited by FlyTraveler
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@ marindadrake: there are places where producing a stunning photo is easy; maybe that special energy just "pulls" the best out of photographer. Sossusvlei is one such place.

 

@ Peter Connan: Finally!! I was about to send you a special invitation :D

 

@ FlyTraveler: I needed to wait for a while, there were (are) some awesome trip reports posted on ST last month; too much competition ... :rolleyes:

 

Thanks to all that are following this trip report! I really enjoy re-living the trip again, and as in theatre, it always is more fun if there are more spectators around!

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The 12th picture in post #23 of the dune with tree in the middle is one of the best Namibian landscape photos I have ever seen - absolutely stunning!

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The 12th picture in post #23 of the dune with tree in the middle is one of the best Namibian landscape photos I have ever seen - absolutely stunning!

 

+1

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I agree with @@Zim Girl about that photograph - absolutely superb - a really imaginative composition

(I am enjoying all of it!)

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Stunning photos

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@@Zim Girl, @@Bush dog, @@TonyQ, @twaffle: interesting enough, we both have seen the same subject / composition, and have taken photos of it. Since it catches such good reviews, it must be done by Zvezda :wub: !

 

To all of you, and others, a quick poll question:

 

How many photos to post from Deadvlei:

 

A. 10

B. 20

 

Thanks for participating !

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Beautiful Dunes;Many More should come!

 

 

"20"

 

and the stars are lovely as well. :D

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Very happy to see 20

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Peter Connan

@@Zim Girl, @@Bush dog, @@TonyQ, @twaffle: interesting enough, we both have seen the same subject / composition, and have taken photos of it. Since it catches such good reviews, it must be done by Zvezda :wub: !

 

To all of you, and others, a quick poll question:

 

How many photos to post from Deadvlei:

 

A. 10

B. 20

 

Thanks for participating !

 

C. Twenty Hundred Squillion!

 

My favourite of the dune shots is the "telephoto landscape".But I also really like the one you took from the top of the dune, looking down at the parking lot. Very unusual!

Edited by Peter Connan
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The 12th picture in post #23 of the dune with tree in the middle is one of the best Namibian landscape photos I have ever seen - absolutely stunning!

 

The telephoto landscape is breathtaking! Superb photos, @@xelas - really enjoying this. Bring on as many of Dead Vlei as you care to :)

 

Also wanted to say - what a lovely desert trip this is - I love these 'focused' itineraries! PMing you about something.

Edited by Sangeeta
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From Sosus Dune Lodge to Namtib Desert Lodge / 245 kms, 5 hrs

 

First target of our trip was achieved yesterday, we have seen our Red Dune. But the first highlight was due this morning: photographing in Deadvlei.

 

To assure nothing could go wrong, I have booked a tour with the lodge, although I have had a proper 4x4 to drive the last stretch of the (soft sand) trail between the 4x2 and 4x4 parking lots.

The evening before they warned us that the guide/driver will knock on our door very early, at 04:00, and that departure will be 04:30 sharp. Ha, we have beaten him for good 15 minutes ! There was a coffee and some cakes … and some confussion, as two groups were about to start at the same time, and there was no one to show whos table is which (the other group have also box lunches prepared). But there were enough hot coffee for all so everyone was happy. There was 6 persons in lodge car, and two more cars following us. Outside was still pitch black, not even a hint of any light. We were all so excited, nobody (else) was noticing the speed we were driving; almost 80 km/h! But no compaints as also myself I was eager to reach Deadvlei as soon as possible. I should have asked the driver which type of insurance theay are using J!

 

Arrived at the 4x2 (or normal cars) parking lot still in dark, and waited a couple of minutes for the other two cars to arrive, and to deflate their tires. Then we continued, much slower, to the 4x4 parking lot. The trail … was not really a trail Just followed the tracks in the soft sand. Our vhicle plowing ahead, the other two slowly adding the distance to it.

 

First traces of light were visible when we reached our destination at 05:45 am and we quickly formed 2 groups: the large one which headed up the Big Daddy, and the smaller (me and Zvezda) that headed straight to the vlei. The rest of the morning … photographing. 120 minutes of pure joy!

 

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It was 8:00 am when »outsiders« started to arrive, and we were already on our way out of the vlei, and to the picnic spot, where a tasty breakfast was prepared in the meantime by our guide/driver. I have not to forget to mention that after he prepared the table, he joined us in the vlei, and was sharing with us his knowledge about the place, and was answering our many questions. I might find his name somewhere, later.

 

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Game Warden

@@xelas More outstanding images. Thank you so much for posting and promoting Namibia. Matt.

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What an experience! I'd get up at 4am and zip at 80K to see that sunrise. It seems surreal to me. How does ZVezdana process her photos? Very unique and shows off the uniqueness of the vei. What were the temperatures when you were there?

 

When I scrolled through the shots, I stopped at, no 5 - the people seemed as though they were placed in the photo - like a painting.

At first I thought, oh, Xelas slipped in a postcard!

 

So yes, you have my interest :D Looking forward to more.

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@@Game Warden: thank you so much, your interest in our TR and photos means a lot to us. Me personally, I was looking for a web site where I could post my long blablabla about the trips that we have done, and it is easy to find a place to put the text; but so hard to find a place that would have the proper colour scheme to make even the ind-level photos, like ours, to shine and be viewed as good ones.

 

This time I am using the direct upload function; to my eye the quality of the photos, specially the "crispness" is better than when I have posted a link to Google+ photo gallery.

 

Is there any way to add a border to the photo when uploaded? And, where are the photos stored? Do they appear automatically in the Safaritalk Gallery?

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Game Warden

@@xelas You can create your own ST gallery, I think follow the links in my signature. By adding directly to the post as an attachment, they are independent of a gallery. As for borders I think that has to be done with a photo editing suite.

 

And thank you so much for the positive feedback about ST. Means a lot to me as well.

 

Matt

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@graceland: so you should hang around, we have some more sunrises (and sunsets) to show you :lol: !

 

Photo #5 ?! Ah, you know that saying, also a blind chicken can find a worm (or something similar ... :D

 

We are very conservative (= unexperienced) when the post processing is in question. Zvezda likes her photos to be colourful. We do shot RAW yet also JPEG. With Nikon, in-camera Picture Control used is Vivid, sharpness 5, saturation +1, contrast +1, hue -1.

 

Our main PP tool is basic ViewNX 2; we crop first, and if (only rarely) there is also my photo in the "to be used" basket, we have to straighten it :rolleyes: . For some photos we are using D-Lightning tool, but more we use Shadow recovery tool. Sometimes even Exposure compensation but rarely. Modest sharpening at the end. Convert RAW to JPEG, 1000 pix long edge, 100% quality.

 

Next step is to add watermark; for that we are using Photo Mechanic 5 (which is also the soft I am using to browse and choose candidates - this time out of 9000 photo I have picked 600 candidates, only at the end of the trip report we will know the number of "chosen ones. There is a sharpen tool also here, and to some photos this is used, but it is a very strong sharpening so have to be very careful when to be used.

 

I am using the word "we". I am the operator but Zvezda is the chief editor.

 

As you can see, this is a multi stage operation. With about 9000 photos, it takes time; probably there are even better ones left behind. But working together is important for us, and even though that using better software like Lightroom would allow us to finish faster, we have fun doing it this way (OK, not always only the fun, you know, we are married for over 30 years :wub: now).

 

As for the text, the situation is much less complex. I sit down, and the story starts to envelope. Sometimes I write too fast hence the mistakes. Also my English really should be better; but who has the time to learn when there are so many stories to be told :rolleyes: .

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Love your writing style Alex, oh and your photographs are pretty good as well! :);)

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@@xelas I am so enjoying your TR - the photos are superb and capture the colours and solitude of the dune area brilliantly. Great photos and colors around Solitaire too.

 

Apologies for pre-empting your meerkat post.

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@graceland: so you should hang around, we have some more sunrises (and sunsets) to show you :lol: !

 

Photo #5 ?! Ah, you know that saying, also a blind chicken can find a worm (or something similar ... :D

 

We are very conservative (= unexperienced) when the post processing is in question. Zvezda likes her photos to be colourful. We do shot RAW yet also JPEG. With Nikon, in-camera Picture Control used is Vivid, sharpness 5, saturation +1, contrast +1, hue -1.

 

Our main PP tool is basic ViewNX 2; we crop first, and if (only rarely) there is also my photo in the "to be used" basket, we have to straighten it :rolleyes: . For some photos we are using D-Lightning tool, but more we use Shadow recovery tool. Sometimes even Exposure compensation but rarely. Modest sharpening at the end. Convert RAW to JPEG, 1000 pix long edge, 100% quality.

 

Next step is to add watermark; for that we are using Photo Mechanic 5 (which is also the soft I am using to browse and choose candidates - this time out of 9000 photo I have picked 600 candidates, only at the end of the trip report we will know the number of "chosen ones. There is a sharpen tool also here, and to some photos this is used, but it is a very strong sharpening so have to be very careful when to be used.

 

I am using the word "we". I am the operator but Zvezda is the chief editor.

 

As you can see, this is a multi stage operation. With about 9000 photos, it takes time; probably there are even better ones left behind. But working together is important for us, and even though that using better software like Lightroom would allow us to finish faster, we have fun doing it this way (OK, not always only the fun, you know, we are married for over 30 years :wub: now).

 

As for the text, the situation is much less complex. I sit down, and the story starts to envelope. Sometimes I write too fast hence the mistakes. Also my English really should be better; but who has the time to learn when there are so many stories to be told :rolleyes: .

 

Thank you for all the information.....of course I understand none of it ( :huh: ) as I shoot a canon bridge camera and have no idea what to do with my pics but download them, then upload them to this computer.

 

MY DH saw your pics by the talented Zvezda and said, they are paintings! Thus, my questions on his behalf. And they do look like lovely paintings so kudos to her for ~ whatever s she is doing,

 

or maybe it is just her subject is so intriguing we think it is a painting :D

 

No matter I am enjoying the adventure.

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@@xelas

 

The Dead Vlei pictures are simply breathtaking.

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@penolva: it feels good reading your words!

 

@Treepol: the colours are there; we were just taking them; the meerkat has a name yet I did not write it down. And, we have seen them also later in our trip

 

@graceland: bridge cameras today are very good machines, capable of producing excellent colours; some fiddling around the options inside the camera, and getting off green AUTO mode might be beneficial; but you travel so much, I understand there is no time for those finesses :rolleyes:

 

@@Zim Girl: Deadvlei is simpy breathtaking; I have seen so many photos of it in preparation of our trip, yet when there, it was like I saw it for the first time!

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Tom Kellie

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First tree on Mars?

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Post-Apocalyptic Film Set?

~ @@xelas

 

Super images!

Tom K.

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@@Tom Kellie : What about the "Last tree on Mars"? No wonder that Mad Max: Fury Road was filmed in Namibia!

 

Thank you. Tom! Was waiting for your comment, with some trepidation ^_^ !

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